Themes

Here is the final analysis:

A possibly major theme in “The Great Gatsby” can be “The quest for money”. The majority of the characters is wealthy and lives in spectacular houses. There is also a focus on money during the whole story. Nick, Daisy and Tom belong to rich families. Gatsby has in contrary earned all his money by himself. But his money is not legally earned.

“However glorious might be his future as Jay Gatsby, he was a penniless young man without a past, and at any moment the invisible cloak of his uniform might slip from his shoulders.”  Page 154-155

The quote shows that Gatsby thought he would not be enough for Daisy, like they are not at the same level. Ever since he first met her he has dreamt that she one day will be his wife. To make the dream come true he thinks he needs to have a lot of money and maybe he needs that. Anyhow are all his actions like the money, the house, and the parties; they are all just to please Daisy.

“’Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay.’” Page 85

“ He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths – so that he could ‘come over’ some afternoon to a stranger’s garden.” Page 85

In the book a green light is mentioned a several times. The green light is from a dock which belongs to Tom and Daisy.

“But I didn’t call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone – he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute afar away, that might have been the end of a dock.” Page 27-28

Possibly it symbolizes something. It can possibly symbolize Gatsby’s dream of Daisy. The green color maybe also has a meaning.

Other possible themes can be “Dreams” and “Love”. But to reach his dream, which is love, he thinks money will make the dream come true. Therefore “Dreams” and “Love” can be seen as two minor themes.

In the end Gatsby is the one who fails, the money does not make the dream come true. Instead his dream is destroyed when he first loses Daisy and finally dies. Maybe Fitzgerald massage was that money not can make you reach your dreams.

Character analysis

The Great Gatsby has a several characters, here they are.

The first character to be presented is Jay Gatsby. Already when the title is read it is clear that the story will be about someone called Gatsby and later, on page eight, this sentence is written:

“Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction – Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn. “ Page 8

This sentence plus the title makes it quite clear that Jay Gatsby is the main character, the protagonist without having read that much. But also later when the whole book has been read it is clear that every occurrence has connection with Gatsby in one way or another.

But another major character called Nick could also be seen as the protagonist. Because it is his story too, the story when he moved to West Egg and met Jay Gatsby. Nick is almost always present in the story but most time he is not a central figure. Since Nick is not that central as Gatsby it is maybe more suitable to title Gatsby as the protagonist.

Then there are two characters that have a little minor importance than Gatsby and Nick, but still they are major characters. There are Tom Buchanan and his wife Daisy. Daisy is the person Gatsby had a relationship with for five years earlier and he is still in love with her. In addition she is Nick’s second cousin. Daisy contributes with more tension in the story because Gatsby has decided to win her back even though she is married.

Since Daisy is Gatsby’s goal, Tom Buchanan is the antagonist. Tom is the person who prevents Gatsby from getting married with Daisy. Even though he has a secret relation with a woman called Myrtle he does not want Gatsby to steel his wife. Tom’s actions do not surprise the reader and can be seen as a flat character. He is quite aggressive, false and heartless and that is the only personalities he shows.

Myrtle Wilson is Tom’s mistress. She is a static and flat character whose function probably is to show that Tom is a liar and a bad husband. Furthermore she is the reason to Gatsby’s death. Her husband George Wilson is also a flat character, but in contrary to Myrtle he develops and turns out to be a dynamic character in the end when Myrtle dies.

Finally there are many minor characters whose only purpose is to present rumors about Gatsby or give clues of what he actually is working with and what kind of people who is visiting his parties. But also a few other minor characters who not have this function. The minor characters that are connected with Gatsby are very important because they help to create the mystery around Gatsby, which makes the reader curious. The two following paragraphs show two of the rumors:

“’ I live at West Egg.’ ’Really? I was down there at a party about a month ago. At a named Gatsby’s. Do you know him?’’I live next door to him.’ ’Well, they say he’s a nephew or a cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm’s. That’s where all his money comes from.’” Page 38 

 “The two girls and Jordan leaned tighter confidentially. ‘Somebody told me they thought he killed a man once.’” Page 50

As a reader you begin to wonder who he really is and if the rumors are true. They also show that Gatsby is quite famous.

This was the character analysis and the final analysis will be about  the theme.  

Narrator analysis

I have been reading The Great Gatsby for a few weeks now. A book written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and it was first published 1926. Now it is time to analyze the narrator and the following text is the result.

 “Reading over what I have written so far, I see I have given the impression that the events of the three nights several weeks apart were all absorbed me. On contrary, they were merely casual events in a crowded summer, and, until much later, they absorbed me infinitely less than my personal affairs. “  Page 62

The paragraph above shows clearly how the story is told in a first person perspective and that the narrator is internal. The narrator is Nick Carraway. He tells the story like he has experienced it and sometimes also like someone has told him about the episode. Therefore there are also parts with a third person perspective when he retells what someone has told him.

Nick Carraway knowledge limits the story because he does not know everything about the characters and can only tells what he knows and has understood. He can know something he has not experienced if he has heard or read about it. This can possibly result in that the reader feels like there is a true story, because this is how we experience the real life.  

All occurrences have taken place in the past and Carraway can choose what he wants to tell and in what order. Furthermore how he wants to describe the characters and himself.  He presents them like he knows them. Carraway does not focus on his own character, as the reader can think in the very beginning of the book. In contrast there are the other characters’ stories that he tells about, in the way he has learnt about them.  Are the stories reliable then? Maybe not, would your life story be totally correctly if someone else told it?

That was it. Next time it will be a character analysis.